Solus
by Yuuaku Hikari
Summary: The life they once knew is gone, and what should only belong in fiction has become a reality. Just how long can a pair of teenage boys survive when going against a blood-thirsty world?
1. Prologue

A gentle whistling of a breeze weaving through the long abandoned buildings, the clumsy stagger of feet shuffling against concrete and dead leaves, and the low wheezing forced out of throats coated with dried blood and torn skin - this was all that was left to listen to now. The world had grown silent, almost in just one night and a day - maybe it was a bit longer than that?

Not that it mattered anymore.

Everyone else was dead. Or, if they weren't dead, then they were wandering around the streets when a lack of sunlight permitted them to do so. Mindless, blind, groaning; it was all sickening. But perhaps what was even more sickening than watching them standing there, doing _nothing _but look disgusting and grotesque and just **_not human_**, was bearing witness to when they swarmed some poor soul who had managed to fall behind, and all you could do was stand there as their body was mercilessly ripped to shreds.

It took over a week to get that image out of Roxas Gracy's mind. He really didn't want him or his brother to endure something like that again, to be helpless and simply _watch _as another human became food for these _things_.

But they had to get used to it.

This wasn't the life they were accustomed to, but they learned long ago that this _was_ their world now, and as such, they would have to learn to survive in it. Friends, relatives, neighbors, love interests, classmates, even some random stranger they've seen maybe _just_ once in their life in Chicago - if any of them came running, they were _all_ to be met with a lead bullet and a damnation.

Three such examples were standing between the Gracy brothers and their shelter.

"Damn it, Ginny, you got Bob, didn't you...? 'Together in life and death' was just _that_ serious, huh..." Roxas murmured softly, doing everything he could to keep his breath light and steady as he slowly turned the safety on his nearly empty Scar-H rifle off, peeking over the corner of a worn down apartment complex. Robert and Virginia Neville twitched their heads to the boys' general direction as if responding. Roxas briefly froze upon seeing their lifeless, icy white irises, tinted red around the pupil, staring blankly at the building he and his brother Ventus Gracy were hiding behind, tears of blood streaming down their pale cheeks, their mouths agape and smeared with the blood of their last victim. But they didn't take a single step toward the boys.

_'Calm down. They can't see. They can't see you unless you move. You've known this. You're okay.'_

Ventus took one step closer behind his brother, carefully surveying the area surrounding them. It was clear; the only _things _around were the Nevilles and the widowed Mrs. O'Reilly. She was such a sweet old lady, always smiling and spreading kindness to everybody in the area. She lived five houses away from the Gracys and often stopped by to drop off some of her famous chocolate chip cookies the boys had become addicted to at a very young age. Such a pity. Not even good ol' Mrs. O'Reilly could escape from this plague. The boys would miss her.

But _only_ if she didn't come to eat them.

"Is everything good to go?" Roxas whispered as softly as possible while still being audible to only his brother, not once breaking his gaze away from Virginia Neville's lifeless stare. Ventus Gracy took one last scan around. Not another one of _them _in sight.

"Yeah. We're in the clear," he whispered back, following his younger brother's actions and switched the Safety on his C23 to "Off". Robert Neville snarled, turning his body completely toward the boys. Roxas glared at him, his index finger secure on the trigger as the monster took one lazy step in their direction.

"Good, 'cause I think somebody's been eavesdropping." Roxas brought the scope of his rifle up to his eye, aligning the target in the scope with the very center of Robert Neville's head. Robert Neville stared right back, bared his bloodstained teeth, and hissed. "Sweet dreams, you sick son of a bitch."

And just as Robert Neville began to sprint, a lead bullet passed through his skull and his brains splattered all over the concrete as his body was knocked back to the ground. He was dead...again.

Virginia Neville and Mrs. O'Reilly sharply turned and hissed at Roxas Gracy, still about twenty-five yards away. Both were highly contagious and both could easily kill him, though his main worry was "Ginny"; she was still pretty young and healthy, while Mrs. O'Reilly, God bless her soul, was old and frail. If either of the two were to be the greater threat, it was "Ginny". She darted forward while Mrs. O'Reilly staggered behind, screeching in a way that always had and always will haunt the boys.

She was the next to be taken out.

"Go, go, _go!_" Roxas and Ventus Gracy quickly hustled around the corner of the building toward their shelter. They would have run faster if it were not for the backpacks they had strapped to their backs; however, the items in these backpacks were essential, and so they could not afford to leave them behind. Mrs. O'Reilly grew closer, limping as fast as she could to Ventus with half of her right foot chewed clean off. She hissed and screamed and outstretched her arms as she snorted like a rabid animal. And her target only had to aim and shoot in her left eye for her to get the hint that no, he was _not _interested in becoming her next meal. Their shelter, a two story house with an iron fence surrounding it, was only ten meters away.

And then the screams began to echo.

Ventus paused and looked back to see a horde of about thirty of _them_ charging in their direction. _They_ might have been about three-, maybe four-hundred feet away - but _they_ were very, _very_ quickly closing that distance. Blood had just been spilled, and _they_ were simply _dying _for a taste of potentially fresh meat.

"Shit!"

"Ven! Let's go!" Roxas called from just in front of the gate bridging the opposite sides of the fence together. His brother leapt over the corpses of Robert and Virginia Neville, almost losing his footing from the shifting weight in his backpack. He clumsily stumbled into the perimeter as he tried to regain his balance and slid on the ground when his battle against gravity was lost. Roxas, still able and on his feet, immediately slammed the gate shut and in his attempts to get the _god damned lock_ on the chain surrounding the gate, his shaky and panicked fingers betrayed him and he dropped it.

"_The hell are you doing? _They're coming!"

"Shut the _fuck _up, Ven! Get inside!" Roxas yelled over the gradually increasing noise from _them_ as he bent down and snatched up the lock. He hastily thanked God that it didn't accidentally become locked when it hit the ground and resumed to locking it onto this "god damned gate _won't cooperate!_"

"_Roxas!_"

"I told you to get inside!" Finally! Finally! The lock was secure! But now _they_ were just ten feet away! One came out of _nowhere _and reached between the bars of the gate, grasping at the boy who managed to jump back _just _in time. Another joined it, and then another, all of them screaming and hissing and snarling and howling.

Roxas stumbled backwards until he hit another body. His heart skipped a beat, believing that it was one of _them _until a pair of arms embraced him and held him close. The Gracy twins stood in the doorway of their house, panting heavily and staring wildly at the scene in front of them. A few of _them_, the walking remains people they knew, people they've seen, people they've never met before, the undead - _zombies_, if you will - were still reaching futilely into the gate, snorting heavily and gnashing their teeth at the living. The rest, however, were swarmed around Robert and Virginia Neville and good ol' Mrs. O'Reilly, fighting over who gets what limb, how many intestines each should get, ripping and _tearing_ and _**shredding **_and-

Roxas had to look away. "L-Let's get in-inside..." Ventus held his brother up as they staggered into the house, shutting the door as soon as they did. Various locks were secured into place, immersing the entire household into darkness. What little light came from between the look-out cracks on the boarded up windows, and even then the light was limited; the day had been overcast and the clouds were blocking out most of the sun. That was why there were so many of _them _out today.

"Holy shit..." Roxas, leaning into the doorway to the dining room as he calmed down and tried to make his head stop spinning from the sudden drop in adrenaline, looked up at Ventus. His brother was peering through the look-out cracks, a look of utter disgust and horror distorting his face. "They're..._eating _them...They're really _eating them_...Like animals!"

"They're not _human_ anymore, _that's_ for damn sure." The other Gracy boy pushed himself off of the doorway and approached his brother. "Fuckin' sharks..._That's_ what they are."

"_Sharks_."

"They're attracted to the smell of even the smallest amount of blood and they will even eat their own kind. So, they're like sharks, but a _lot_ worse. Damn fuckers can _run_." Ventus laughed weakly and stepped away from the window, unable to look anymore. "Anyway, what were we able to get?"

Ventus took his backpack off, unzipped it, and dumped its contents out onto the dining room table. "Let's see...I was able to find some chicken-flavored ramen, canned peaches, spam, canned tuna, some more C23s and some ammo for them _plus _magazines for yours, and," He picked up three wrapped rectangles. "I also managed to snag a few Hershey's."

"Awesome." Roxas followed suit and they began to check out what _he _was able to find on their scavenge this day. "I've got...a jug of fuel, peanut butter, cereal bars, bacon -"

"You are my hero. Le_git_."

"-batteries for our flashlights, light bulbs for the lamps, like five Colt-45s plus a few things of ammo, canned beans, hot dogs, and a few random bags of potato chips."

"Great! Shall we add that to our inventory?" And without waiting for a response, Ventus grabbed a bag of said potato chips (he happened to get the Frito's) before leaving the room. Roxas only rolled his eyes and grabbed a cereal bar - _'Cocoa Pebbles, no __**fucking **__way!_' - before following Ventus into the living room. He plopped down beside him on the couch, and for a moment all that could be heard was the crunching of chips, the rustling of a plastic wrapper or bag, and the muffled moans and howls coming from outside.

"..._So_." Ventus vibrated his lips together and glanced absent-mindedly around the room. "How many do you think you got today?"

"Huh? Oh..." Roxas' own eyes stared down at the half-eaten bar in his hand. "I dunno...Maybe, twelve? Thirteen?"

"Ah. I see."

"And you?"

"Pfft, hell if_ I _know. I think, like, fifteen?"

"Oh. Th-That's good." Roxas nodded slightly, receiving a low hum from his brother in agreement. More silence between them followed. "W-What do you think the weather's going to be like tomorrow?"

"Ehh, probably overcast. Same as usual. I mean, we're right next to Lake-fuckin'-_Michigan_."

"Yeah, that's probably the case, then."

"Yuuu-_puh_." Ventus popped his lips. "Not that it's to be unexpected. I mean, we've been living like this for _how _long? What, little over a month?"

"Yeah. Forty-three days, to be exact." Roxas turned his gaze over to his brother. They both stared at each other in disbelief.

"...Forty-three days, huh." Ventus bobbed his head up and down in understanding. "...We've survived the end of the world...for forty-three days."

"Yup. Looks like it. Just you and me, Ven."

_'The only two people left in the world...after just forty-three days.'_

**~Prologue End~**

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**Author's Note:**

Uwaaah, I'm so sorry, Kanaban! I know I promised your SoRiku but I really am still blocked with it! And this was just _itching _to get written and-!

I have failed you... **ORZ**

That aside, I introduce a new story to the fan fiction realm. My beta, JustSayNoToPants, was very excited when I told her about this story. Apparently, there aren't too many KH + Zombie Apocalypse stories out there and the ones that do exist are not the best. I would like to change that. :]

So, in case it wasn't obvious (hohoho), Roxas and Ven are a pair of twins surviving a zombie outbreak. Simple, right? Ahahaha, no. A lot of the cliches found in ZA movies and books are to be pointed out here. For example, according to tvtropes, one cliche used is that the characters never call them by what they are, "zombies". They always say things like "them" or "things" or "infected". They, for whatever reason, absolutely refuse to call them "zombies". That will not be the case here. c:

I borrowed a few things from a couple other sources, which are:

Dead Set - The eyes (which are fuckin' creepy as hell and will haunt you in your sleep)

I Am Legend - They mostly come out at night or when it's really, really cloudy (which sucks because it's CHICAGO, mah hometown :D ), as well as Robert and Virginia Neville (oooh the irony! XD)

And then there's the tradition stuff, like a bite will infect or they crave human flesh (or blood in general, actually).

I hope this one turns out really, really well! ^^

-Yuu


	2. Inceptum Finis

**[ i n c e p t u m . f i n i s ]**

~ o ~

"Hey." Ventus turned his head to find his younger brother climbing through the trap door they had built into the roof. He had two blankets hanging over his shoulders, a rifle strapped to a harness across his torso, and a plate of microwaved burritos in one hand. He crawled onto the roof and made his way to Ventus, who was sitting cross-legged next to a propane lamp - the very same kind they would use for camping whenever their parents had the time.

"I brought dinner."

"I can see that. Chicken and cheese?" The younger Gracy boy replied with a 'yup' as he plopped down beside his twin. Roxas handed Ventus one of the blankets he brought and they both immediately wrapped themselves in warmth. A cold wind blew down their street and washed over them, making them curl into themselves and shiver. Ventus looked out toward the horizon, where a distant sun was surely setting; the clouds above them had gradually been turning from a depressing gray to a pretty array of oranges and pinks and purples - it was rather inappropriate for God to make the heavens beautiful while Hell was on Earth.

"Y'know, winter's coming. Pretty soon we won't be able to be up here keeping a look-out." Ventus pulled his blanket tightly over his body. Roxas nodded and hugged his knees to his chest.

"...Do you think there are others like us still out there?" Roxas asked, almost in a whisper. Ventus reached over and grabbed a burrito.

"There has to be. I mean, look at _us_. We don't know jack shit about surviving on our own, and _we're_ still here." He took a bite. "Degr 'az doo bgee 'UHMGUDY elfdse, raighd?"

Roxas picked up the other burrito and just held it in front of him. "Yeah, I guess you have a point, Ven." His older brother gulped down the chewed bits of chicken, cheese, and tortilla.

"Of course I do, Roxas. When have I ever been wrong?" He paused. "I mean, about _this_?"

Roxas bowed his head slightly with a murmured, "Never."

And he hadn't been wrong about anything that happened so far; not about the importance of staying together, not about doing whatever it took to survive, finding shelter, guns, food, ways to evade the undead, or whatever it was about them. Ventus was right about everything.

Actually, without him, Roxas didn't know how he would've survived for so long.

Forty-three days.

It had been that long since Chicago, Illinois, first fell to an unknown disease.

* * *

**[ t h e . s e v e n t h . d a y ]**

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"Roxas! Wake up!" The boy was startled awake by a harsh whisper. His eyelids fluttered open and, for the first few seconds of being semi-conscious, he mumbled incoherently. When the haze of sleep left his vision, he found Ventus staring down at him with a bright light illuminating from the back of his head. He shifted a little to get more comfortable before he remembered that he had slept in the backseat of a car. "We gotta keep moving. It's morning so we have to make the most of what light we have if we're going to find a better place to hide."

"Mmmph...Wait, won't there be more out there?" Roxas sat up in a panic, still a bit disoriented from a long night and little sleep. Ventus placed a hand on his shoulder and hushed him.

"I don't see any and it's really quiet outside - you know how loud they can get. But we _can't_ let our guard down, not until we find food and water and shelter. Okay?" The boys made eye contact. Their skin was soiled with dirt and ash and blood - none of it was theirs - their hair was a mess and bits of debris were tangled in their windswept locks, faces thinned from the past week of eating almost nothing, dark circles underneath their eyes. They might as well have been zombies; they certainly looked the part.

"...Okay." Roxas nodded, a bit more focused now. He twisted his body a bit and bent down to retrieve the small shovel he had dropped at some point in his restless slumber. The blood at the pointed tip had dried overnight and was beginning to flake off.

Ventus unlocked the driver's door and tried to open it only to find that something was blocking it. Frustrated, he leaned back and kicked the door in an attempt to open it. It took a minute, but eventually he managed to force the obstacle aside far enough for them to squeeze through the open car door. Roxas wedged his way out, almost blinded from the sunlight he had grown used to being absent. The other side of the car was smashed into a street lamp, making exit from _that _side of the car impossible.

Once his eyes were used to the sunlight, Roxas scanned the area around them. The smell of gasoline and smoke and drying blood filled his nostrils, a cool breeze whistled around the buildings, and the streets were empty and in ruin. Cars were crashed into each other, into buildings, into bodies...

And it was silent.

"Roxas." The boy's attention turned, from a corpse laying outside of their overnight shelter he hadn't realized he was staring at, to his brother, who was about ten feet ahead of him.

"C'mon, we gotta go."

The younger Gracy took one last look at the body slumped against the side of the car before dragging his feet toward Ventus. His eyes took in the sight of the previous week's chaos. Limbs were thrown left and right, hands, feet, legs, somewhere under a crashed car there was what looked like a head. Blood painted the asphalt, coating the soles of the boys' shoes in red when they stepped in puddles of it. Every time Roxas' hand slipped and he dropped his shovel, or whenever Ventus smashed the window to a car - in the slightest chance that someone was inside, just hiding and scared like the boys were - the noise echoed throughout the empty street. They wandered down the street, hand in hand, in search of a place that was still standing, that had any sign of life, that offered them food, water, protection - anything that would've helped raise their spirits.

Reality began to set in when, perhaps due to dehydration, a raging fever, or desperation, Ventus was driven to risking their lives by shouting and calling out for anybody that could've been in the area.

"Hello! Is anybody there!" Roxas leaned back against a street light pole, watching his brother pace around the area in an attempt to draw the attention of any other survivors. He sighed heavily, knowing that Ventus was just grasping at straws, wanting to deny something that he himself had already accepted.

A burning pain stung his right hand.

"Hello!"

He dropped his shovel and looked down at his palm. It was covered in blisters and splinters from the handle of the shovel, from holding it for so long, from swinging it around and using it as a weapon to protect himself from others who, for whatever reason he didn't quite understand, wanted to kill him.

"We're not infected! We can help!"

_ 'Infected...Was that what those people were?' _The younger boy blinked as he stared at his wounded hand, feeling his body begin to shut down.

"HELLO!"

Roxas slowly began to sink to the concrete, his legs giving out beneath him. His feet were sore, his legs were sore, his arms and shoulders were sore. Even his eyelids were sore, hardly sleeping at all during the week. They were on the move when possible during the day, and they were hiding at night. They were only able to sleep once they were sure they couldn't be reached by others. Even then, when he had managed to fall asleep despite the screams and gunshots outside, nightmares kept him awake. Those once familiar eyes, pale and wide, blank, lifeless...they were there when he slept. Bloody hands were reaching for him, teeth gnashing, feet staggering in his direction. And then, all too suddenly, their skull was burst open and bits of brain, bone and teeth exploded everywhere.

He understood that he would probably never be able to get rid of that haunting memory.

"Please..." Ventus fell to his knees and dropped his bat, his voice hoarse and cracking with tears, dying in defeat. "Someone, anyone, help us..."

Roxas looked up at his brother, sane enough to feel heartbreak, but too weak to care. Nobody was coming to help them. There wasn't anybody left who could, he already knew this. But, seeing his brother - who always looked at the brighter side of things, always held onto that last little bit of hope that they could be saved, always knew what exactly to do - finally be broken like this...It was as if what he merely believed as a big possibility suddenly became an absolute truth.

"Ven," He forced himself onto his feet and stumbled to his twin's side. "You're losing it. Here, you need water."

His backpack slid off his shoulders and down his arms, plopping onto the ground with a low _thud_. The younger Gracy knelt beside the elder and dug through his backpack until he found their last plastic bottle of water. With a twist of the cap, he handed it to Ventus. The blond had only begun to take a sip when he began to cough harshly, choking on whatever water that went down the wrong tube, wheezing heavily and sucking in air past his chapped lips.

"Ven!" Roxas began to panic, immediately thinking the worst at his brother's hacking. They had seen plenty of times that whenever someone was bitten by...what _were_ they? Ventus called them 'infected', but were they really just sick? Was Ventus sick? They knew well enough that people who were bitten became 'sick', too, but what about airborne illness?

_ 'No! Please! Please don't die now! Don't become one of them!'_

"I'm fine, Roxas," Ventus managed to gasp out. "I'm just...thirsty."

As if to prove his point, he tried a second time to take in some water, finally managing to get some down his throat. He took only two or three gulps, wanting to save the last of their water for as long as they could. Feeling a bit better, he cleared his throat. "Where in the hell are we, anyway?"

Roxas looked around them, using the scenery as a way to identify their location. However, with everything in ruin, it was difficult to tell exactly what street they were on. About ten meters away, there was the intersection with the street names hanging below the traffic lights. He assured his brother that he would be back in a moment and pushed himself up onto his feet, making his way to the signs. One of the stoplights was blinking, maybe due to a wire being disconnected when a baby-blue Beetle crashed into it. Whoever was inside didn't make it out - their arm was dangling out of the broken window on the driver's side. Roxas had to look away and focus on looking up at the signs.

_ 'Don't look at the bodies...Don't look at the bodies...' _When the boy reached the middle of the intersection, his head turned to his left.

"East Chestnut Street," He murmured to himself. His gaze traveled to the sign dangling above him. "North Wabash Avenue."

He took a couple steps backward before turning and walking back to his brother. "We're on East Chestnut and North Wabash. We started at East Chicago, which means -"

"We only managed to go about a mile since we started," Ventus looked up at Roxas in disbelief and horror and slowly fell into panic. "It took us a week. We only went into a fucking circle. There were so many of them - Oh my God, Roxas, are we going to _die_?"

"No!" Roxas grabbed his shoulders and looked straight into his eyes. "No, we are _not_ going to die, Ven!"

His older brother shook in his grasp, staring at him with wide, frightened eyes. Both boys inhaled and exhaled heavily, trying to maintain the composure they knew they were losing. Everything was quiet except for their breathing. Roxas gulped once before continuing in a softer tone, "We're not going to die. We're going to...going to live. We're going to find somewhere we can be safe, and there'll be food and water, and others like us. We won't be alone, Ven. We'll find them, okay? Please, keep going."

After a moment of silence between them, Ventus nodded shakily, reassured by his brother's words.

"Okay." Roxas also nodded, glad that his twin had calmed down a bit. "Now, it's-" he paused to look up at the sky, "about noon, I think. The sun's pretty high, which means we only have about six hours before they come out." He stood and extended his hand to his twin. Ventus took it and rose to his feet, leaning against Roxas for support.

"Heh...It's the end of the world, there're zombies running around, and I'm sick. I think my life is FML-worthy," Ventus chuckled weakly. Roxas couldn't help but smile at his brother's joke, knowing exactly how true it was. He swept one arm around Ventus' torso, and put his arm over his shoulder. "I'm ready to go when you are, bro."

"All right." He was about to lead the way, but he only got to a foot away before realization came to him. "Should we leave our bag there? Or do you think we should take it with us?"

"There's nothing left we can use in there, is there?" He looked back and examined the backpack. The left shoulder strap was almost completely torn and the zippers were long gone.

"No, and it's falling apart, anyway." Ventus nodded once, slowly, understanding what this meant. They were down to literally nothing but each other and the clothes on their backs. If they didn't find shelter by night fall, that was it. They would have no chance of seeing the next morning's sunrise.

The two brothers trudged on anyway. Ventus nearly fell into unconsciousness on multiple occasions against Roxas' body, his fever taking its toll on his system. When he was sure Ventus wasn't listening, Roxas murmured a silent prayer to God Almighty that they would find shelter soon - not even to protect them from what would come that evening, but for Ventus' well-being.

_Hello, God, oh Lord. My name is Roxas Gracy, but You probably already knew that. I'm not sure what exactly is going on, or whether or not it's something You made happen, but I am not going to question You or Your reasoning. I know I'm not usually a praying man, but I come before You now to ask for Your blessing. I place myself and my brother in Your hands and I trust that You will provide guidance and lead us to a place of safety. You have our complete faith and I pray that You will protect us and guide us through this. Please, put a hand of healing over my brother. He's suffered enough and he can't go on for much longer. I don't want to lose him, Lord. He's all that I have left in this world. So, please, please protect him._

_ In Jesus' name, I pray._

_ Amen._

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**[ t h e . f o r t y - t h i r d . n i g h t ]**

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"How long do you think this is gonna go on for?" Roxas inquired, lying on his back with his hands folded behind his head. The clouds had broken up, giving the boys their first glimpse of the night sky in four days. Ventus, still upright, was flicking the lid of a silver lighter open and shut in nervous habit. Engraved on the side were the initials R.M.

"I dunno. I'm not sure if it'll ever stop." Roxas hummed lowly, a bit disappointed with his answer. He expected a more thought-out response, but it sounded like Ventus was unsure. The older Gracy stopped playing with the lighter and leaned back a little, supporting his weight with his hands. "But, if it _does_, then I guess they either starve, or we kill them all."

A loud _clang! _rang from in front of the house.

"The _fuck_?" Ventus sprang up from his slouching position, startled. Roxas crawled a couple of feet towards the edge of the roof to investigate.

"What is it?"

Roxas didn't respond. _'This - What the hell...'_

"What is it, Roxas?"

"It's one of them, Ven."

"The _hell_!" Ventus scrambled to Roxas' side in disbelief. "What the hell's it doing _here_?"

"It probably heard us talking."

"Well, do you think it might have been attracted by the bodies from earlier, too?"

"I doubt it." Roxas pulled the rifle up a little as he began to move. "There'd be more if that were the case. Plus, the sick bastards ate all of them. There's nothing left but bones."

"Roxas, what are you doing?" Ventus raised his eyebrows as his brother shifted onto his stomach, propping the rifle's scope up to his eye.

"I'm checking to see what might have brought it here."

Through the scope, Roxas found the creature at the iron gate. It crashed its body into the metal two - no, three - more times, each releasing a _clang! _that ran throughout the empty city. It was a woman - maybe nineteen, twenty at the latest, with dark brown hair, fair skin, a tint of freckles on her face. Her mouth was agape and stained with dried blood, a large wound on the crook of her neck. Her arms were extended above her head and through the gate's bars, fingers wiggling and jerking. It almost looked as though she were -

"-Reaching for something."

"''_Scuse _me?"

"She's looking for something." Roxas spoke softly, mostly to himself, as he pulled his head away from the scope. Ventus huddled a little closer to him.

"What do you think it is? Neither of us are bleeding and I don't think -"

"She's not drawn by blood. Look." Roxas pulled the holster over his head handed his rifle to his brother who brought the scope up to his own eye. A look of confusion swept over his face. "Do you think she can see us?"

"No, it's blind. The eyes aren't moving at all. They're dead - same as before." The older brother shifted a bit to hold the rifle in a more comfortable position. "Doesn't look like it knows exactly _where _we are. See? It's just wandering around the fence like it's trying to find something. If _anything_," he returned the rifle to his little brother, "it knows we're somewhere nearby. Not sure how, but it's definitely aware of our presence."

"I see," Roxas' voice trailed off as he took a second look at her through the scope. "Do you think it's possible she hasn't completely turned yet?"

Silence.

Roxas turned his head to look at his brother, curious as to why he didn't receive an answer. He did get an answer - it just wasn't a verbal one. Ventus stared at him, annoyed. "What?"

"Why do you do that?" Roxas sat up.

"Do what, Ven?"

"Talk about them like they're still human. Why do you call it a 'she', or, earlier, when you were talking to those _things _that used to be Ginny and Bob? They're not the Ginny and Bob we know anymore, Roxas, so why do you act like they are?"

Roxas blinked and turned away, seemingly in thought. He shook his head after a moment. "I dunno. Just not completely used to this yet, I guess."

_'That's a lie.'_

"Well, _get _used to it." Ventus twisted his body and laid himself down onto his back, staring up at whatever stars were peeking past the clouds. "You can't keep holding on to the past anymore. It'll get you killed - it almost _did_, Roxas."

_'I know.'_

Roxas stared down solemnly at the other blonde. It bothered him how _easily _they could talk about things like this, like it was no big deal, like it never had been and like it never would be. "Have we really changed this much?" Ventus looked up at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Roxas laid beside him, "it's almost like _we're_ not the people _we_ used to be anymore, either. A month ago, I wouldn't have even dreamed of killing anybody just to keep living. But now, I do it every day. People I knew, people I loved, people I hated - they're all dead now. And-" He sighed. "-it's because I killed them."

A pair of arms wrapped around his lithe frame, pulling him closer against another body identical to his own.

"It's not your fault. You did what you had to - we both did," Ventus spoke softly, understanding perfectly why his brother was so bothered. "But we're still _us_. We get scared when we see what they do to each other, and we remember the people we come across that we have to kill. We say a prayer every night and every morning, and we believe that there will be an end to this. _We _have a reason to keep going. That's why I have to disagree with you. We _are_ still ourselves; we've just had to learn how to survive in this new world."

A long silence between them followed, and at first, Ventus thought Roxas had simply fallen asleep in his arms. He could hear the soft breathing of the boy next to him, the scattered wheezes of those _things _- he _still_ didn't know what to properly call them - and the occasional _clang! _of that _thing _Roxas kept calling a "she" running into the gate. Not even crickets were chirping.

Their world really was dead.

"I miss Mom and Dad," Roxas whispered, not opening his eyes. Ventus glanced up at him before curling into his body, holding him closer in a protective manner.

"I do, too, Roxas." The younger boy chuckled weakly. "Hm?"

"Nothing. Just, that lamp." His head tilted up to the propane lamp illuminating the roof for them. "It reminds me of when we went camping at Scratching River. We were convinced Dad was certifiably insane for wanting to go to _Canada_ for camping and in the middle of _fall. _Heh, it was cold as hell."

They were only fourteen years of age. Their father, a police man, had some time off and decided to spend it with family bonding. They loaded up into their truck and drove God knew how many hours up to Morris. They set up two tents - one for the parents and one for the twins - roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. They were all laughing and having a good time, despite the boys' initial but brief protests.

"Oh, yeah. I remember that."

"We stayed up late at night because we wanted to see a moose. We were hoping it'd be like that one time we went to the Grand Canyon and a herd of deer wandered into our campsite. But, no moose. We were so bummed out, I think we actually argued with them about not leaving until we saw a god damned moose."

"And when we went fishing? You caught a really big one and almost got dragged into the water. But Dad and I caught you before you could, and Mom was so proud of you." Ventus began to remember this particular event, too. Roxas' cheerful, beaming face was clear in his mind.

Their parents' faces, however, were gone.

"I was pretty damn proud myself, until we pulled my catch out of the water."

"It was a big-"

"-black-"

"-boot," they finished in unison. After one brief glance at each other, the boys began to laugh lightly. It was only a few years ago, but it felt like it had been an eternity. They knew events like that would never happen again, but memories were nice to have when there was nothing left to hold onto. They knew they couldn't hold onto old feelings when coming across someone they knew who had fallen to this pandemic, but that didn't mean they couldn't get lost in the good times while they were safe. It gave them a sort of peace of mind, let them forget about what was waiting for them just outside that gate and just get high off the feelings of the happiness and security they once knew.

Eventually, the laughter died as they were brought back to reality.

"I wish they were here." Roxas stared up at the night sky, not really focusing on anything in particular. Ventus buried his face into the side of his brother's neck.

"I wish they were here too, Roxas. But we both know they're never coming back. We'll never see them again."

"I know. Still have to try and remember them, though, right? I don't want to forget them, Ven, and neither do you." Roxas inhaled slowly and exhaled in the same manner, a bit calmer now than he was earlier. Ventus glanced up at his brother, wanting to say something. But, he decided against saying it at the last minute, and instead he only further curled into the only friend he had left.

"I think...what scared me the most was when we left home and we saw, for the first time, how broken everything had become." Roxas turned to his side and looked head-on to his brother, wrapping his own arms around Ventus when he felt him shiver. "When were _you_ scared the most?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I want to know what you were thinking, what you were going through when you pulled me along and made us survive. I'll be honest, I don't think I'd be alive right now if you weren't there to tell me what to do." Roxas pressed their foreheads together and closed his eyelids.

"That should be easy, Roxas." Ventus dragged Roxas' discarded blanket over their bodies to shield them from a chilled breeze sweeping over them. "It was that first night, when everything happened. _That's _when I was scared the most."

"Was it Dad?"

"No."

"Weren't you scared when you saw all that blood?"

"You kidding? I was scared _shit_less." The older blonde ran his fingers through his brother's locks.

"Then, was it seeing Mom?"

"Not exactly." Roxas tilted his head, confused. Ventus looked down at him and sighed.

"It was when she tried to eat you."

**[ t h e . b e g i n n i n g . o f . t h e . e n d ]**

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Ta-da~! I present to you all chapter one of the newest addition to my work. "Solus" is Latin for "Alone". At this point in time, the twins don't know what to call these things. They've referred to them as "sharks" in the prologue for their keen sense of smell and attraction to blood, which is very much like a shark's. They're not sure if they're like the traditional zombies in the sense that they're reanimated corpses, or if they're just really, really sick people. Seeing as how none of the people that have died from them have returned to life, they're starting to suspect that they might be something entirely different. For now, though, to get the point that they're eating people across, they occasionally call them "zombies".

I'm so sorry for those who want Kimi to be updated! I'm still working on that! ; A ;

Also, my zombies are not like others. They can't see and they're ultra-sensitive to bright light DUE TO PLOT REASONS THAT SHALL BE FURTHER EXPLORED IN A FUTURE CHAPTER. :D

I have basically figured out all of the events that are to happen, up to right before the end. Now to just write it out...Kihihihihi...

I'm also working on another story where we get to check out the wonderful world of Stockholm Syndrome~!

I would like to thank **JustSayNoToPants** for being an oh so wonderful beta! She is thoroughly amused by Ven's lack of table manners, ohohohoho~! And, as she pointed out, going only a mile in one week is a little slow, even with zombies running around. The things they go through that first week shall be explained in flashbacks similar to the one in this chapter. East Chestnut and North Wabash are, in fact, actual streets that really are about a mile away from East Chicago, at least from the specific point I had them start at. I do my research. c:

And for those readers who live in that general area...I am sorry. Bahahahaha.

**Future Warning: Zombie Children.**


	3. Somnium

**[ s o m n i u m ]**

~ o ~

"Y'know, we've been doing this ever since those things first showed up, so why can't we face each other?"

"What, you mean you _want _to see my dick, Ven? I knew something was wrong with you, but _damn_."

"Oh, shut up and pass the shampoo." Ventus sighed in frustration, twisting his body enough to grab the plastic bottle of shampoo as it was lightly jabbed into his wet side. He examined the bottle of shampoo, it was _'strawberry scented? What the-?' _"Remind me again why we have to shower at the same time?"

"As I've told you about ten times before, it's to _conserve water._ It seems that, for whatever reason, the water supply is still working fine. But that's all the more reason to save what we can, in case it _does _run out." Roxas lifted his arm and pressed a sudsy loofa against his skin, running it up and down his side and arm. "And the reason why we're not looking at each other is...well, it's awkward, for one." Ventus only rolled his eyes.

"It's not like we haven't bathed together before, y'know, and it's not like I'm gonna molest you or anything. I just don't see the point in having us back to back." The hot water ran over their bare bodies, running down each ripple of muscle underneath that delicate layer of skin, weighing down their blond locks to their foreheads and cheeks, ridding their flesh of all impurities. Ventus couldn't help but watch as the blood and dirt that clung to their skin was washed away and swept down the drain. He poured some of the fruit-scented shampoo into his hand before setting the bottle aside and scrubbing the shampoo through his hair.

"You don't see the point in a lot of things, and _two_," Roxas huffed, switching arms to wash the other side of his body. "I want us to keep what ever's left of our humanity for as long as possible. If we start just acting like our privacy doesn't matter, then what's right and what's wrong will be a blur and then we won't see anything wrong with doing...unnatural things with each other."

"Like?" Ventus massaged his scalp, spreading the shampoo through his hair as much as possible.

"Like-like, I dunno, touching each other."

"Awwh, is my little Roxy nervous that he's smaller than me?"

"N-No..."

"Then what is it?"

He didn't get a response.

"...You're afraid to be alone, aren't you?" Ventus peeked over his shoulder at the younger Gracy boy, looking at his toned back with concern. Roxas froze in the middle of scrubbing the loofa over his torso. Ventus continued as he slowly turned around to face him. "You want my company everywhere we go...to make sure I'm still okay. Isn't that it?" Roxas only looked down.

The younger boy felt a pair of strong, wet arms wrap around his waist and torso from behind. He stiffened a little as his brother's chest was pressed against his back and his chin against his shoulder. "Roxas, it's okay. I'm not going anywhere. As long as we have each other, we're going to survive...okay?" His voice was hushed, and his warm breath lightly brushed against Roxas' skin.

"Ven, I-"

Before he could finish, the light that illuminated the room suddenly died. The hot water stopped running over their bodies. They were left cold and bare in darkness.

"_God damn fucking generator_," Ventus hissed under his breath, and Roxas panicked a little when he felt those arms leave him. He heard his twin stumble around in the dark until a light beamed through. "Ugh, fucking wet and cold and I have to go outside and refill it - not exactly how I wanted to end my day of surviving the fucking zombie apocalypse," he groaned lowly, turning to shine the flashlight he found at Roxas, who in turn squinted and lifted a hand in front of his face to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness. "It's a good thing we keep one of these in every room. Otherwise, we'd be kinda fucked right now," he chuckled. Roxas couldn't help but smile a little as well. Ventus turned to grab one of the towels they left hanging and held up the flashlight between his chin and collarbone as he wrapped it around his waist.

"Want me to come with you?" Roxas asked as he carefully stepped out of the tub/shower-combo and wrapped the other towel around his own waist.

"Awwh, scared to be all by yourself?" Ventus grinned in a mocking tone. Roxas flushed and glared at him through the shine of the flashlight his brother held, making Ventus laugh. "Oh, Roxas, you know I'm just teasing! C'mon, let's go fill this bitch."

With Ventus leading, the two boys carefully trekked their way down the stairs of their shelter. Some air crept in from the outside, leaving goosebumps on the wet, naked boys' skin. The light shined upon their stock of fuel as they reached the bottom of the stairs. The younger sibling grabbed a gallon of fuel before being led outside. Cold air swept over them as the front door was opened, and for a brief moment all Roxas could do was stand there and shiver as he held the gallon tightly against his chest. Ventus looked to the left, then to the right, making sure there was not a breach in their defenses. When he saw that the coast was clear, he pushed Roxas along off the porch and onto the cold concrete path before turning to walk upon the dry, dead grass. Roxas glanced over to the side at the area where they found one of the zombies banging against the gate. _'Huh...She's gone.'_

The closer they drew to the side of the house, the stronger a feeling of...uncertainty, coursed through the boy's veins.

He had seen this before - creeping around in the darkness, about to turn a corner, and suddenly they're met with teeth and _blood _and _**flesh being torn and-**_

"Ah, here we are." Ventus shone the light upon the dead generator that lay connected to the side of the house. He traded his flashlight for Roxas' gallon of fuel and made his way over to the generator. "Keep the light on me while I fill'er up, 'kay?" He glanced over at the other as he knelt down by the machine.

"O-Okay." Roxas nodded, holding the flashlight in an angle where Ventus was in view. The other blonde popped the cap off of the generator after checking the level just to make sure it really _was_ empty and not just somehow unplugged, _'however the hell _that _would've happened.'_

It was nearing the end of fall, and it was nighttime; put the two together, throw in a wet Roxas in nothing but a towel, and the result was a shivering, freezing blonde survivor. Ventus seemed annoyed by the shaking light and even demanded that Roxas "calm the fuck down, will ya?"

"I-I-I c-c-c-can't help i-i-it! It's c-c-c-cold!" His teeth chattered, using his free hand to wrap his arm around the front of his body as if doing so would provide a bit more warmth. _'Please, of all times, why _now?_'_

"Just keep it steady for _one_ minute." Ventus hoisted the gallon up and tilted the opened top into the generator until he heard a _glug, glug, glug_. While his brother was occupied with giving them electricity, Roxas' eyes couldn't help but wander around the area. He was on the alert, scanning around and searching for any sounds, any signs of movement in the darkness. For a short while, all that could be heard was the soft howling of the wind, the boy's teeth chattering against each other, and the muted _glug, glug _of the gasoline being poured into the empty generator.

And then, a step.

"Roxas! What the hell are you doing, bring the light back!" Ventus glared at the younger Gracy as he turned the light away from him. Roxas aimed the light at the gate - nothing was there; he aimed it at the bundle of dying shrubs from the house next door - nothing was there; at the porch, and _again_ nothing was there. "Roxas!"

The boy looked over at his brother's silhouette and calmed down a little. "Sorry." The light returned to shine on Ven, his eyes squinting as they were immersed in brightness. Roxas froze, staring at a figure looming over his brother. It stared back at him, its eyes dead and not responding, mouth agape and dripping with blood.

"Ven!" He hurried to grab his brother's arm and pulled him away from _her_, stumbling back as he tried to put distance between them. Ventus stumbled along, dropping the gallon on its side.

"What! What is it!" Ventus asked in a panic. Roxas could only stare and blindly lead them back to the front door as _she_ stepped closer and closer, wheezing and growling, extending her hands out to them. Blood caked her blonde hair, pasting it to the sides of her face, her cold gaze never wavering from the boys. Ventus, upon reaching the porch, turned around to see what Roxas was so frantic about.

"What the-"

* * *

**[ t h e . f i r s t . n i g h t ]**

* * *

The group recklessly hurried to the convenience store, guns in hand. The second Ellis opened the door, an alarm blared, echoing throughout the empty street. They rushed in as the roars of the horde drew closer and closer, and eventually they were surrounded. Rochelle was just about to blow out the brains of one of the "Common Infected" when she was suddenly pulled down and dragged across the store by the tongue of a Smoker.

"Oh, hell no you _don't_!" Ventus gritted his teeth as his thumbs toggled the analog sticks and led Ellis over to the zombie, mowing it down with his gun. Rochelle was freed, and the others were holding their own against the Infected. "Where is it...Where is it...A_ha_!" Success! The six-pack of Coca-Cola was found, abandoned in the middle of an aisle. He picked it up, sacrificing his gun for the Cola, but that was okay. This stuff was more important, anyway.

"Whoo-hoo! Yes!" Ventus whooped as Ellis and the gang hauled ass out of the store and back toward the survivor waiting for his Cola. The biggest, goofiest grin was plastered onto his face, the feeling of sweet, sweet victory coursing through his body. "How d'ya like me _now_, bitch?"

Roxas was sitting upon his bed, a calculator on his sheets, a textbook in his lap, and a notebook in one hand, a pencil in the other. He lightly tapped his chin with the eraser of his pencil as he thought through the equation in front of him. _'Okay, if Sally weighs 30 kg and is skating on a frictionless surface at an accelerator of-'_

"Oh, _shit!_ TAAAAAAANK!"

_'...At an acceleration of 2 meters-per-secon-'_

"Fuck!"

"Ven, do you _mind_?" Roxas glared at his brother, throwing his pencil at the boy who sat cross-legged in front of their television. "I am _trying_ to study."

"Roxas, you've been studying for the past _three hours_. Give yourself a break, will ya?" His brother's eraser bounced off the top of his head. "And stop throwing shit at me! I'm trying to concentrate!"

"On shooting _zombies_? Ven, finals are coming up and you're sitting there playing a god damned _video game_!"

"I don't need to study. I'm a genius."

"You're almost failing Physics!"

"'Cause that class is boring. I'm gonna get a perfect score on that test and it'll bring me _right_ up to a B." The group made it into the safe house. "Awwh, yeah! Ain't no fucking Infected gonna get _this _hick!"

Roxas groaned in frustration, tilting his head back against the headboard of his bed. "Ven..." he whined.

Ventus paused the game and turned his head to look at Roxas. "Look, if you're damn annoyed by it, why don't you call up your girlfriend and bitch about it to _her_?" The younger blond's head catapulted up and he glared at the other. "You're taking this thing waaaaay too seriously. Stress out about it and you'll actually do a pretty shitty job."

"_This_ from the kid who starts screaming at the tv whenever he gets swarmed."

"_Hey_. Taking a test and surviving in a world of blood-thirsty zombies are two _totally _different things."

"Either way, you're fucked if you take one wrong step." Roxas sat up and stretched, his arms reaching out for the ceiling. "Oh, well. When I make my own business and become a very successful man, I'll see about you getting a job as my personal burger boy."

"Unless your girl completely fucks you over and takes all your money."

"What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?" Roxas' arms swung down, eyebrows furrowing into a glare. Ventus just leaned back until his back pressed against their carpeted floor, hands folded behind his head.

"She's cheating on you, man."

"The _hell_ she is!" The younger Gracy boy scrambled onto his feet, an expression of rage, confusion, disbelief, all mixed together, melting onto his face. "What gave you _that_ idea?"

"Heard it m'self. She was talking to one of her friends and freaking out 'cause she's pregnant but didn't know how to tell you."

"W-What...?"

"Now, last I checked, you're still holding your V-card, right?"

Roxas' body shook with emotion. "...No...No, y-you're lying."

"Yup." Ventus grinned widely. "I'm lying."

"You_ bastard!_" Roxas screamed, tackling Ventus and pinning him down to the floor. "Why the _fuck _would you do that to me!"

"Hey! You boys need to watch your language!" The twins turned their attention to their open doorway, hearing their father shout from downstairs.

"Sorry, Dad!" Roxas replied in a projected voice before turning to glare down at his brother. "I swear to God, I should beat your face in right now."

"So why don't you do it? The pregnancy was a lie, I was _serious_ when I said she's cheating on you. I saw her all over that Hayner kid the other day." Roxas' gaze didn't waver. "Just giving you a heads up."

They heard the front door open and slam shut, and their father going to greet whoever was there before his voice became panicked. Roxas crawled off of his brother and hurried downstairs to see what was wrong, Ventus scrambling up and following only seconds after. They reached the bottom of the stairs and turned the corner, following the sounds of their father's voice and someone groaning in pain. Upon entering the living room, the boys took in the sight of their mother, who had gone out to pick up dinner, laying on the couch, crying and groaning and _bleeding from the crook of her neck_. She was bleeding, so, _so_ much. _Too_ much. The boys' eyes widened in terror, seeing all of that _blood_ pouring out of their mother's body.

"Rikku...Oh my God, what happened?" their father asked, using his shirt to wrap around the wound in his attempts to stop the bleeding.

"Man..._agh_, bite..." she managed to choke out, breathing quickly and heavily, writhing around on the couch in pain.

"Someone _bit_ you?" his voice projected in horror, looking down to witness his efforts to stop the bleeding becoming more and more obviously futile.

"Chase...many..._bite_..." Her chest heaved as she began to gasp like a fish, her eyes widening and growing white, small drops of blood streaming like tears down her cheeks. Roxas watched as Ventus hurried away from his side and down the hall before his attention returned to the scene in front of him.

"It's okay, Rikku! You're going to be all ri-" Their father froze as she suddenly sprung up and hooked herself onto him, digging her teeth into his neck as she tackled him down. Roxas let out a brief scream, scrambling backward and tripping over his own feet. He fell to the ground and backed up into a wall, staring wide-eyed and absolutely _horrified_ as their mother completely _lost_ it, _ripping_ and _tearing_ at their father's jugular, blood splurting like a fountain from torn veins in his neck as he let out a gurgling, dying scream, thrashing in protest under her.

And then, he only laid still on the ground, eyes wide. _Dead._

"What the _fuck_ are you doing, Mom!" Roxas cried out, tears coming to his eyes as he curled into himself. She snapped her head up to stare at him and he flinched under her gaze. She slowly rose to her feet, her eyes not moving from him, blank and lifeless. He tried to push himself away from her, and only when he realized that she continued to draw closer did he remember that he was already pressed into a wall. She stepped closer toward him, her head tilting limply to the side, her mouth slightly agape and dripping with fresh blood. His heart pounded against his chest like a drum, and his breathing grew quicker and more shallow. She wheezed softly, standing over him and staring down at him with an almost curious look on her blood-stained face. She snarled and growled low in her chewed-on throat, her head tilting itself back upright.

He heard footsteps running in their direction, though she didn't seem to notice. Her gaze remained fixated on him, as if she were contemplating on what to do with him. Her teeth were bared and she let out a rough scream, her hands reaching out as she lunged for him.

His vision became red with the sound of a _**crack!**_

"_Holy shit_, are you okay?" Ventus knelt down in front of his brother, examining him to make sure he wasn't injured. Roxas could only sputter out random words and let tears fall down his cheeks as his gaze alternated between Ventus and the corpse of their mother lying only a couple feet away. Blood and bits of brain and bone poured out of her crushed skull, and it took a moment for Roxas to notice their father's newly blood-stained autographed bat his brother held tightly in one hand. "Oh, thank _God_, she didn't get you," Ventus sighed with relief upon finding that his brother was unharmed.

Screams came rushing their way from outside, muffled by the walls of their house, and suddenly glass shattered as arms crashed through the windows, blindly swinging around and fingers wiggling and grasping at air, some banging themselves against the door. The boys jumped from the sudden noise and Roxas almost let out another scream before his mouth was covered by his brother's palm. Wordlessly, Ventus pulled Roxas up onto his feet and led him by the hand toward the stairs just as _they_ broke the hinges off the front door and stormed through. Roxas looked over his shoulder and watched with horror as the bodies of their parents were completely _swarmed_ by people that just didn't seem _right_. He looked away as he heard flesh being torn and limbs thrown all over the place, and he followed his brother up the steps and into the first room they could find - a bathroom - where they locked themselves in.

"Oh my God." He broke away from Ventus' grasp once they were secured inside of the bathroom, pacing around and grabbing at his hair in fear. "Oh my God, Mom and Dad are-And-Oh, shit, _shit_, they're in the house...Oh my God, oh my God-"

Ventus was on his hands and knees, peeking under the door to check for any movement outside. "They haven't come up the stairs, so they're either too distracted or they don't know we're here." Roxas turned to look at his brother with shock and anger. "Or maybe they can't even _go _up stairs."

"How the _fuck_ can you be taking this so lightly! Mom and Dad are _dead_ and there are _God-knows-whats_ fucking _eating_ them!" He didn't mean to scream, but when both of your parents are dead and _things_ are ripping them apart, emotions tend to fly. Ventus only got up onto his feet in a nonchalant fashion, making his way toward a window that was built in above the sink. "_Well?_"

"Quiet. I'm trying to think." The older Gracy boy looked out the window, observing what was going on outside. "Shit."

"What?"

"It's total chaos outside. People running around, being chased by other people..." Ventus slowly backed away from the window, and Roxas saw the look of sheer horror on his face. "You _really_ don't want to look out there, Roxas. Trust me."

"Ven, I'm scared." Roxas' voice died down to a whisper as tears came back to his eyes. "What do we do?"

"There's really nothing we _can_ do." Ventus sat with his back against the door, gently setting the bat beside him onto the tiled floor. Roxas joined him, hugging his knees to his chest. "We'll...We'll just have to wait until morning," the older twin's voice also began to gradually die. Roxas looked over at Ventus to see a tear rolling down his cheek. He hugged his own knees to his chest and buried his face into his arms, letting those tears he was holding in finally be released as the fact that both of their parents were dead finally set in.

"Ven?" Roxas placed a comforting hand upon his twin's shoulder. He scooted his body closer to the other's, placing the other hand upon his brother's arm.

"This can't be happening..." Ventus sobbed quietly. "This has to be a dream. It's not real...It's not real..."

Roxas wrapped an arm around Ventus' shoulders, pulling him into an embrace. Ventus buried his face into Roxas' side and clawed at his shirt desperately, staining it with salty tears. Roxas, in turn, buried his face into his brother's hair and held him closer still, curling into him and tightly shutting his eyelids. They stayed like that, wrapped in each other's arms, as they listened to the screams coming from those..._things_, from downstairs and from the broken world that lay outside.

Nothing would be the same anymore.

* * *

**[ t h e . f o r t y - t h i r d . n i g h t ]**

* * *

"What the-" Ventus pulled away from Roxas and stood there, looking around the front of the house before sighing in exasperation. "Roxas, there's nothing there."

"What?" Roxas raised his eyebrows in surprise. "B-But, I saw her! She was standing right next to you, a-and she was gonna eat you!"

"Who's 'she'?" The older Gracy looked back at his sibling, giving him a confused look.

"Mom."

"_Mom_? Are you fucking serious? We left her at the house, remember? There's no _way_ she'd be here."

"But..." Roxas looked down, so lost and confused. "I saw her..." Ventus only rolled his eyes again and pulled Roxas off of the porch and back toward the generator.

"You scared the living _shit_ out of me. I thought one of _them_ broke in or something." He propped Roxas' hand up so the flashlight was focused on the generator before he retrieved the gallon of gasoline. "Now stay _right there_. I'm almost done with this thing."

Roxas sighed and looked down at his feet. _'I could've sworn she was here...Am I going crazy?'_ He was brought back to the real world when the now-empty gallon was tossed aside and broke the silence between the boys. He glanced up to see Ventus pushing himself onto his feet and clapping dirt and gas off his hands.

"_There_ we are. Now to start this baby up." He bent down and grabbed the belt with one hand, holding the generator still with the other, and swiftly pulled. Nothing. He set it back before pulling it once more, bringing it to life with a soft _putter putter putter_. The lights in the house suddenly sparked alive and illuminated the area, blinding the boys for a brief second. "That's better. Now let's go in before we catch a cold." Ventus disposed of the empty plastic container, tossing it over the iron fence, before making his way back to the porch, his younger brother following him.

The two climbed up the stairs after shutting off all of the lights on the first floor and headed toward their bedroom. There was a queen-sized bed that they shared; sure, there were more bedrooms in the house, but this way they could keep an eye on each other during the night.

"So, you really think there are others still out there?" Roxas inquired, stripping himself of the towel and slipping on a clean pair of boxers. Ventus, on the other side of the room, followed suit.

"Well, yeah. We've already been over this tonight: if _we_ were able to make it this far, somebody _else_ had to as well, right?" He pulled a pair of dark green sweatpants up his legs. "_We're_ just a couple of teenagers. We've had to teach ourselves how to shoot a gun, first aid, how to cook, everything. Shouldn't a fully capable adult still be around _some_where?"

"Riiiight, but _we_ were able to survive the initial outbreak because we were _hiding _and _we_ were able to observe and _learn_ about those things. I doubt adults would've thought of doing _that_." After dressing himself in a pair of plaid pajama pants, Roxas climbed onto the bed and flopped onto his stomach, burying his face into his pillow. "Ig a way, ourf _feeah_ savd ugs."

"_What?_" Ventus threw himself onto the spot beside his brother, staring up at the ceiling. Roxas turned his head away from the pillow.

"I said, 'in a way, our _fear_ saved us.'"

Ventus furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "Huh. Never thought of it that way before." Roxas turned over onto his side to face his brother and smiled. Ventus looked down at him and raised an eyebrow. "What are _you_ smiling about?"

"I'm just glad you're still with me after all that's been going on. I really don't know what I'd do without you."

"You'd be dead, for one." Ventus shifted his position and turned over onto _his_ side to meet Roxas eye to eye, who pouted slightly. "For two, you'd probably have gone bat shit insane, what with being alone and surrounded by fuckin' zombies."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Because," Ventus paused, placing a hand on his sibling's shoulder, "I would've done the same if that happened to _me_." Roxas' eyes widened slightly. "If I were all alone in this world - just me and _them_ - I probably would've ended it all a long time ago." His hand slowly trailed down Roxas' arm. "You're really the only thing keeping me going. That's why I _have_ to protect you, do anything it takes to make sure you're safe."

"Ven..." Roxas scooted closer toward him, burying his face into his chest as his arms embraced the familiar body and pulled it close against him. "You're all I have left, too. So when I saw - or at least _thought_ I saw - Mom creeping up behind you, I panicked. All of a sudden, I saw everything I knew, everything I loved and held dear, about to be taken away from me." Ventus held up a fist, extending his pinky.

"Can you promise me something, then?"

"What?"

"If either of us end up dying before we find help, the other will go on living. It'll be lonely, I know, but-"

"I'll promise that, if you promise something for me." Roxas lifted his own hand and hooked their pinkies together. "If one of us gets bitten by _them_...the other has to put them out of their misery. Ven, if I turn into one of _them_, I'd probably be wanting to hunt _you_ down."

"Why?"

"Y'know how we figured out that if you bleed, they're attracted to you?"

"Yeah...?"

"Well, Dad wasn't bleeding when Mom ate him, and we know that they can't see or hear very well. So, what if they're drawn to what they're, I dunno, familiar with, too?"

"Roxas," Ventus sighed, holding his little brother close. "Let's just get some sleep. I'd rather not think about having to kill you."

"Okay." Roxas grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Ven. I'll try not to be so morbid." He heard his brother chuckle as he nuzzled his face into his chest. His eyelids fluttered shut, wrapped in the warmth of a familiar, _living_ body. He really hadn't noticed before how amazing skin could feel when it was alive and healthy. Knowing that it belonged to another - his brother - helped him sleep easy.

**[ d r e a m ]**

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Whoo! So glad I finally got this next chapter out! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in two months! Senior year is a bitch. But guess what! I'm done with high school! So more time for writing! Hurray! :D

I swear, this entire thing looked so much cooler in my head, like, as a movie. ; A ;

Can I get a "D'aawwwh" for the ending? I think these two snuggling in bed like their lives depended on it is absolutely _adorable_. Then again, that's just me. I'm a total sucker for RokuVen. :3

Thanks once again to **JustSayNoToPants** for being so patient with me and for being the most wonderful beta~ She thinks having Roxas and Ven being all cuddly and clingy with eachother is adorable. See above for my agreement. :D

And thank you to **KatrinaEagle **for your most amusing review! If you think these kids are total badasses _now_, juuuust you wait. ;D

And an especially sincere apology to **CupOPebbles** for working on this instead of her SoRiku... I don't deserve your love. ; A ;

Please, please, please, please, _please_ review! I live off of reviews and if nobody reviews, how in the hell am I supposed to know whether or not I'm doing this right? ; A ;

**Future Warning: Zombie children.**

**More Important Future Warning: Badass Gingers (hint hint ;D).  
**


	4. Perditus

**[ p e r d i t u s ]**

~ o ~

_My name is Roxas Gracy. I'm 18 years old. I was born on November 14, 1993._

* * *

**[ t h e . s e c o n d . d a y ]**

* * *

Roxas Gracy was the first to wake the next morning. For a brief moment after his eyelids fluttered open, he half-wondered why he was in the bathroom and half-wondered _'why is my douchebag of a brother clinging onto me?'_ After his hazed blue orbs traveled down to see the neglected bat their father cherished - it was autographed by the _entire_ Cubs team - he remembered: they were hiding. _'Hiding from...from wha-_' Oh.

"Shit!" He pried himself out of his twin's grasp and hurried to the window. It was overcast, but it was day, and what light that had managed to bleed through the clouds provided him with the image he needed to realize the exact situation they were in.

There were figures scrambling about, some staggering around and wandering aimlessly, some scurrying toward the closest or safest shelter they could. Victims from the previous night's onslaught lay scattered in the streets, some still being feasted upon, others already ripped limb from limb. Blood painted the asphalt and walls and cars, and entrails occasionally dangled out of the fallen or of the dead's mouths, and bones broken into unfixable angles, and arms twisted, and legs tangled, and necks broken, and _eyes staring wide and lifeless, and mouths hanging open, and screeches, and wheezes, and -_

He felt the bile begin to rise in his stomach - he just barely managed to make it to the toilet in time. The bitter, _disgusting_ taste of acid and whatever was left of his lunch from the day before were forced out of his throat in a coughing fit. It felt like forever before that hell was broken by the sound of a familiar voice. "You looked, didn't you?"

Roxas, almost completely empty and yet still just as sick, glanced over at Ventus, who was sitting upright and appeared to be a bit calmer than last night. The younger boy's breathing was heavy and his mouth dripping with vomit, hovering over the toilet bowl as a precaution. "This can't be really happening, Ven. Just yesterday everything-_ugh_-everything was okay. I was doing homework, and - and _you_ were still being a complete _asshole_." He paused to glare briefly, unable to finish expressing his discontent with the other before. Ventus only stared at him with half-lidded, unamused eyes. "And then all _this_ happened. And, Mom and Dad, and -" He gasped and returned his gaze to his brother, wide with horror. "You killed her! You didn't even think twice and you _killed_ her!"

"It was either you or her, Roxas, and quite frankly, I don't want a zombie for a brother."

"That's not the point! I didn't even know what the fuck was going on, and then out of nowhere _you_ showed up and beat her brains out!" Roxas tried to push himself up onto his feet. "What gave you the idea to _do_ that?"

"I dunno, instinct?"

"You gotta be fucking kidding me, _'insti-'_" The rest of those words mixed in with the remaining acid and pumped out of his body and into the porcelain bowl. Ventus only tilted his head back against the door and closed his eyes, as if he were trying to ignore his twin's vomiting and only go back to sleep. Another eternity seemed to have passed by before Roxas was, surely and finally, done. "_Nobody_ would think of killing their mom out of 'instinct'," he panted. "_Nobody_."

"Quiet."

"Stop trying to avoid the subject, Ven! I want an ans-"

"No, I mean, it's _quiet_." Ventus sat up and opened his eyes, looking over his shoulder at the closed door with genuine surprise and confusion. "I don't hear anything coming from downstairs, do you?"

In fact, no. Roxas couldn't hear _anything_ in their house. "Do you think they're gone?"

"Only one way to find out." The older Gracy quickly flopped onto his stomach and peeked through the space underneath the door before leaping to his feet and grabbing the bat. Roxas panicked a little when he realized what he was doing.

"You're not going _out_ there, are you?"

"Uh, yeah? I have to if I wanna see if it's safe for us to gather some shit and get the hell out of here." A hand reached for the doorknob.

"But what if it's _not_ safe!" Roxas lunged for his brother and clung onto his arm. "Don't be stupid, Ven! There's a fucking _horde_ of them out there! You can't take them all on!" His grip grew tighter. "Please, Ven. I already lost Mom and Dad. I don't want to lose _you_, too..."

Ventus was silent for a moment, staring at his hand wrapped around the doorknob. He sighed softly, biting his lower lip as his heart began to tighten. "I'm sorry, Roxas." With that, the door was swung open and the first step since the day before was taken out into the hallway. Roxas' stiff fingers were pried off of Ventus' arm as he watched his brother - the only family he had left in this God forsaken world - turn his back to him and leave, going down the empty hallway with bat in hand, walking slowly and quietly, creeping toward their parents' bedroom. The younger boy hid behind the door, observing Ventus with fright and worry through a crack in the slightly ajar doorway.

His eyes widened as he watched his brother disappear into their parents' room, and he caught his breath as the agonizing silence droned on. He closed his eyes and immediately began to regret everything he had ever done to Ventus; hell, before this all happened, he called him an asshole and Ventus _still_ saved him, and he didn't even thank him or apologize. He wanted to take it all back.

_Thud!_

He gasped and jumped a little, startled from the sudden break in dead silence. There were a few more thuds, and the boy calmed down when he realized that it was just Ventus trying to break into something. _'What is that idiot doing?'_

Not even a moment passed and Ventus was back in Roxas' arms, safe within the walls of the bathroom. The instant the older Gracy boy returned from the other room, Roxas had pulled him in, slammed the door, and embraced him as if his life depended on it, his hands clawing at the back of his shirt and burying his face into his chest.

"You idiot! You fucking _idiot!_ Why the _fuck_ did you _do_ that!" Roxas cried through tears of joy and relief. His brother was unharmed.

"I went to get _this_." When Roxas looked up from his brother's torso and in the indicated direction, he found that Ventus was holding the bloody bat in one hand and a very particular - and deadly - item in the other.

"Is that-"

"Dad's pistol? Yup." Ventus checked to make sure the safety was off before shoving it into his pants' pocket. "I went to get it as a precaution."

Roxas scrunched up his face in confusion. "Do you even know how to _use_ it?" Ventus rolled his eyes and pulled it back out.

"Look, here're the bullets, and here's the trigger." His index finger pointed to each part as he explained. "How hard can it be to shoot a _pistol_?"

"But do you _absolutely_ know how to shoot it?"

"We can worry about that later. Clean yourself up, you're coming with me."

Roxas' eyes widened as he stammered, "W-Wha? W-Where are we going?" Ventus gently shoved him toward the sink so he could clean himself.

"We're getting out of here."

The younger of the two turned and began to protest, but he was instantly silenced with a palm _smacking_ into his cheek. His wide eyes met Ventus', glassy and afraid gazing into cold, serious, glaring into his very being.

"I don't want to hear it, Roxas. We are leaving, and that's _final_."

"But, Ven-"

"What, you _want_ to stay locked up in this fucking bathroom for the rest of your life? Face it, Roxas! We can't make it just by waiting things out anymore! That _used_ to work when we were kids and it might have worked sometimes at school, but it won't do us any good _now_. We _have_ to go out there and figure out what's going on," he explained, bending down to pick up the bat he dropped when he hit his brother. "Or die here."

Roxas looked down at the pistol as it was returned to Ventus' pocket before his gaze returned to the other boy's face. He sighed and responded in a quiet voice, "Okay, Ven."

"Good. Now clean yourself up and grab whatever we need in here, probably just the flashlight and some batteries. Oh, and some band-aids and gauzes, too."

"You've really got this whole thing handled, huh?" Roxas smiled weakly, grabbing his toothbrush to clean his mouth of vomit and partially-digested food pieces. Ventus froze and glanced away.

"Just," he paused, "get your shit in here and let's go."

A few moments later, Ventus cautiously opened the door and peeked outside. The coast was clear. One quiet step after the other, he led the way to their bedroom with Roxas trailing behind him, just as quiet and carrying the bandages and gauzes and a few spare batteries they kept in the drawers, along with a few other first-aid items. They managed to creep over safely, and once they arrived Ventus stayed in the doorway to keep watch.

"Empty out your backpack."

"Where's yours?" Roxas looked back at him with an eyebrow raised, setting down the items in his arms onto his bed and unzipping his backpack.

"I left mine downstairs. If we can get to it without any trouble, we'll use that, too." Ventus didn't look back at his brother, keeping his eyes on the hallway and the top of the stairs at the end of it.

"What should I put in here?" Roxas asked, taking out the last of the scraps of paper he had crammed in there throughout the school year.

"Some extra clothes would be good. Pack a couple shirts, pants, socks, whatever. We're in fucking Chicago, and it can get pretty cold at night and since summer is almost over, it's going to start getting _really_ cold soon. I don't want us to end up getting sick - that's the _last_ thing we need." There was some shuffling behind Ventus' back, over by where Roxas' bed would be.

"Done. What else?"

"Besides the stuff from the bathroom? What else we got in here?"

"Uhh..." Roxas looked around the room in a frantic. "We should bring some jackets."

"We can wear those. Save the space for other things."

"Okay. Uhm," The boy looked around some more. "What about the mini fridge? Do we have anything in there?" He referred to a small fridge they were allowed to keep in their room that sat over by their television and video game set.

"If anything, a couple of sodas. We can't use that, soda'll dehydrate us."

"Then there's nothing else we can use." Roxas stuffed one of the backpack's smaller pouches with the medical supplies and zipped it up before standing up and throwing the straps over his shoulders. A quick trip to retrieve two zip-up sweatshirts from their closet was all that was left to do before they were ready.

"Okay. Let's go, then." Ventus glanced back before going on ahead, checking the rooms as he passed by them to double-check that they really _were_ empty and he didn't just miss something on the first trip out there. He finally arrived at the stairs and paused in his step when he noticed something rather...peculiar.

"That's weird."

"What is?" Roxas inquired as he approached Ventus.

"There's no blood on the stairs - those sick fucks didn't even _try_ coming after us." Ventus' eyebrows furrowed in thought. His brother looked down and noted the same thing.

"Maybe they didn't notice us. I mean, they seemed pretty busy eatin-" He stopped mid-sentence. He'd really rather not think about seeing..._that_.

"Right. And, they were pretty loud last night, but now there's nothing." He inhaled deeply and exhaled in the same manner, working up his nerves. "Okay. I'm going in."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Roxas gave him a worried expression.

"No. I'll go on ahead and see if it's safe. It'll be too risky if we both go down there; this way, at least _one_ of us will survive." Roxas, to his surprise, was suddenly taken into a tight, squeezing, warm embrace. Ventus buried his face into his shoulder, shaking a little. "I haven't been the best brother to you...So, if I don't come back, just know that I really do love you...and, I'm sorry." As he spoke, his younger brother formed small tears in his eyes, running low from the previous night but still enough to spare for his own sibling. Wordlessly, Roxas returned the embrace, and they remained like that for a brief few moments before Ventus slowly, reluctantly, pulled away.

Roxas watched from the top of the stairs as his brother slowly and silently crept his way down. His hands gripped the bat handle tightly, ready to strike if needed. The closer Ventus came to the bottom, the more anxious Roxas became. What if one of those, those _things_ ambushed him? What if they _all_ ambushed him? What if they got to him and he managed to get away? Would he be okay? Would he start to change like their mother did?

Ventus kept his back to the wall as he neared the first floor, his muscles tensing up and his heart beginning to race as his fight-or-flight instinct started to kick in. As he drew closer, he heard a very pained, very faint wheezing coming from the first room out of the stairway. He froze when it first reached his eardrum and tried to maintain composure. _'Shit. They're still here. Fuck, what do I do? What do I do?'_

Roxas observed with curiosity and worry, noticing Ventus' sudden pause in his step. He sensed his twin's panic and wondered if he heard or something - when Ventus continued to scale down the stairs, those thoughts vanished for the most part. His brother eventually made it to the last step, where he slowly and cautiously turned his head and peeked over the side of the wall.

All too suddenly, his stealthiness was tossed aside and he sprinted around the corner, disappearing from Roxas' sight. The boy heard feet shuffling around downstairs and not even a minute later, his brother was back into view.

"Rox, get down here. You need to see this."

Nodding, the younger Gracy boy hurried down to his brother's side, careful to not trip over himself as he did so. Ventus led him to the living room, where they walked in one of the most horrifying and bizarre scenes Roxas thought they had ever witnessed.

Sprawled all over the place, the unmoving bodies of those _things_ lay in a giant, tangled orgy.

"What the fuck..." Roxas' eyes widened with disgust and confusion.

"I checked the entire floor; they're _all_ like this." Ventus approached one and tapped its head with the bat. No response.

"Are they dead?"

"If they're not dead, they're dying. I found one in the kitchen still alive. Barely," the older boy explained as he led the way to the kitchen. Roxas followed and found another one of _them_ - a girl he'd seen a couple times at their school - on the tiled floor. Her eyes were wide open, her mouth agape and wheezing weakly, her arms curling into herself and her fingers twitching. It looked like she was suffocating. "I'm going to get my bag. Start filling up yours with some water bottles."

"'Kay..." Roxas' voice trailed off as he tried to remember who this girl was. He knew she definitely went to their school, and he thought he _might_ have spoken to her once or twice, but from _where_ did he know her? He let his brain pick at that thought as he opened the refrigerator and let his backpack fall from his shoulders and onto the tile. He began to stuff it with as many water bottles as he could, knowing exactly how important water was to the body and how fucked they'd be without it. He heard Ventus return to the kitchen and the _zzziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip_ of his bag being opened coming from the general direction of the pantry behind him.

"I already grabbed the flashlights and more batteries from Dad's study."

"How much do you think we'll need?" Roxas asked, feeling how heavy his bag was becoming when he tried lifting it.

"However much you can take." Ventus' own bag was half full from random foods they would need - protein bars, bananas, the remaining third of a loaf of bread they were going to finish off that day before the chaos ensued, a few mini-packs of Goldfish, cereal bars, Pop Tarts, anything and everything he could carry that didn't need to be heated or cooked properly.

Eventually, the boys had gathered enough supplies to last them at least a week, maybe two or maybe even three if they could work things out properly. "Hey, Roxas."

"Yeah?" Roxas threw his bag onto his shoulders and securely fastened the straps onto his body.

"Dad taught you how to use a gun last month, right?" Ventus did the same.

"Vaguely, but yeah. Why?" Just as he turned to face his brother, Roxas found Ventus holding their father's pistol out to him.

"You be in charge of this. You know how to handle it better than I do." He placed the gun in Roxas' hands before leaving to retrieve the bat. As he left, Roxas' attention returned to the girl lying on the floor. By that time she had stopped moving and breathing; she was dead. It was then he remembered where he had seen her - she was in his American History class, just a couple seats away from him. The boys were taking summer classes to get some college credit out of the way, and during that entire summer, he never once asked her name or even spoke to her - he was too focused on his work. That was his problem, he guessed.

He placed the gun in his own pocket just as Ventus returned with the bat. "This thing only has five bullet slots, so we have to use it wisely. Did you manage to find any more?"

"They're in my pocket, do you want them right now?"

"That might be good." He received the spare bullets - fifteen extras, twenty total - and placed them in his other pocket. "Are you ready?" He spoke in a nervous, slow manner as he tried to remain calm, finally accepting everything that had happened, was happening, and probably will happen.

"Yeah." Ventus gripped the bat tightly and limbered up his arm muscles before swing the bat down once in a determined, somewhat aggressive fashion. "Let's go." He started walking first with Roxas following only a couple of steps behind him. They maneuvered their way past the bodies spread across the floor between the kitchen and the exit, making sure to keep their feet from a safe distance from the dead's mouths _just in case_. Past the mass of bodies, through the broken doorway, and out into the overcast early-morning light, the boys froze and took in the sight of what had happened the night before.

Hell had come and consumed everything they knew and loved in just a matter of hours.

"Holy shit..."

* * *

**[ t h e . f i f t y - f i r s t . d a y ]**

* * *

"Roxas, are you ready?" Ventus called up from downstairs, a bag ready and strapped to his back, one of their rifles in each hand.

"Yeah!" Roxas replied from their bedroom.

"Then get your pansy ass _down_ here! We're burning day light!" Not a second later, the _thump, thump, thump_ of his brother's feet came hurrying down the stairs. Ventus handed him a gun and turned to leave when Roxas stopped him.

"Hang on, Ven. Forgetting something?"

Ventus rolled his eyes, sighed, and took Roxas' hands in his own, bowed his head, and closed his eyes. "Dear God, please cover our asses while we go out and own this bitch. Amen." His eyes opened and he let go of his brother's hands while turning on the ball of his foot. "Now _let's go_."

Roxas only rolled his eyes and smirked in amusement as he took Ventus' lead. "You ready?"

"Fuck yeah!" Ventus unlocked and opened the door, letting the faint sunlight flood their otherwise-dark shelter. Roxas shut the door behind them and joined his brother at the gate. Once it, too, was unlocked, the gate slowly creaked open and they stepped out of the safety of the lawn. Ventus loaded his gun and prepared it for use. Roxas followed suit, and once they were locked-and-loaded, he looked over at his twin.

"Here we go."

"Yeah." Ventus bumped their knuckles together and grinned brightly. "Let's own this bitch."

They began their trek through the dead city, keeping an eye on each other as they briefly separated a wreck of cars smashed together that lay in the street on the way to their destination: a supermarket they frequented once a week in search of food and first-aid supplies. This was routine for them, which made each journey even more dangerous.

They didn't worry, though.

Hell might have consumed their world, but they were going to fight, damn it. No way were these _things_ going to take them down so easily. They were going to fight, and they were going to _win_.

Or they were going to die trying.

**[ l o s t ]**

* * *

_I am the last survivor in the city._

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Phew. Been a while, huh? I think that, besides the prologue it's a, uhm, prologue, this is the shortest chapter thus far. But I got it done, and I did pour my heart into it. The next chapter will continue on from this.

The whole summer school thing was because I realized an inconsistency in the previous chapters. I managed to save myself, yay!

And maybe some foreshadowing spoilers? O:

A lot of thanks to JustSayNoToPants for being the most wonderful beta, and to CupOPebbles for being so patient with me and my…lack of SoRiku. ; A ;

Please read and review! ^^


	5. Timor

**[ t i m o r ]**

~ o ~

"So, what exactly are we getting today?" Roxas inquired, stepping over a bit of debris left over from the initial onslaught some time ago.

"We're running low on protein bars and stuff, and getting some more water bottles might be good, too." Ventus lifted his arms above his head in an effort to stretch. The boys had decided that they would return to their local supermarket today instead of raiding houses and convenience stores like they usually did. "Oh, and if there's any canned soup left, that'd be awesome."

"Y'know, we might need to make a plan to escape the city." Roxas idly kicked a small rock out of his way. "Our food supply isn't gonna last forever and neither is our ammunition. Except for all of that frozen junk, we haven't really eaten anything with a lot of sustenance 'cause all the meat went bad weeks ago."

"Yeah, and so did the bread," Ventus climbed over the roof of a car that laid smashed into the side of a building, blocking his path. "And the cheese and the milk - all that shit."

"And everything else is going to run out sooner or later. We've been able to survive here for almost two months, but those things don't seem to stop coming. I think it'd be best if we get out of here as soon as we can." Ventus sighed, the two boys finally clear of the worst part of the road.

"And how do you suggest we do _that_? The roads are blocked and all of the cars are completely toast. Even if they _weren't_, neither of us can drive." Roxas opened his mouth to speak, but Ventus interrupted with, "And no, we're not going to try to learn how. Too risky."

The younger Gracy boy rolled his eyes as his brother continued. "Besides, where would we go? If Chicago's been hit this badly, think of everywhere else. What if the whole _world_ is just as bad as, if not _**worse**_ than, here? At least if we stay in the city, we know our way around."

"But what if it's _not_?" Roxas glanced over at Ventus as they turned a corner. "Remember when we saw _28 Days Later_? Yeah, shit went down, but it was _only_ in the UK. What if it only hit certain parts of America?"

"Oh, so all of a sudden real life is _just_ like a movie?" Ventus' eyes widened with mock surprise, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Roxas scowled.

"_Yes_, actually, it is. In case you haven't noticed, there are fucking _zombies_ all over the place. I think life lost its 'real' sense a _long_ time ago."

"Roxas, you can't base_ every single thing _about our situation on movies. There's a lot that they got wrong."

"Well, ex_cuse_ Hollywood for not being one-hundred percent accurate on the ways of the zombie, Ven." Roxas scoffed and rolled his eyes once more.

"Hollywood wasn't one-hundred percent accurate on _anything_, dude." Ventus stifled a low chuckle, finding it humorous how much they were arguing over something so trivial. "Okay, I'll play your game. Suppose Chicago _is_ the only city that's been struck by this. Why, then, didn't it spread to anywhere else?"

"A lot of reasons, like maybe the borders have been able to be kept under control and stop the spreading, or maybe they _can't_ be anywhere else." The younger blonde rattled around in his brain to think of what he had learned from observing the undead and from watching the Discovery Channel many days prior to the initial outbreak.

"We know the zombies can't go out in the sun, and Chicago is pretty cloudy most of the time due to being next to a lake-"

"Then what about Wisconsin and Michigan and the rest of Illinois?" Ventus interrupted.

"Let me finish," Roxas huffed, glaring slightly. "Maybe this is their hunting ground. Like how sharks will stay in one area if there's an abundance of food."

"But there _isn't_ any food, Roxas. They've all either died or become infected."

"No, there is. They eat each other, remember? As long as there're a lot of them, there'll always be food. Why would they leave?"

"Okay, good point." Ventus nodded in agreement. "Why _do_ they do that, anyway?"

"Sometimes animals will resort to cannibalism if there's a shortage of other sources of food." Roxas tried to think harder. _'Damn, it's been a while since I saw this. I miss TV.'_

"So, with no other _living_ humans and no animals as far as we can tell, they eat each other?" The older twin summarized.

"Any way to get their fix, I guess." Roxas shrugged. "They're attracted to blood, and with so many of them bleeding from wounds, I guess they just can't help it."

_Crunch._

Roxas paused in his step and looked back over his shoulder, trying to locate the source of that faint sound. Except for all of the destroyed cars, street lamps, and decayed limbs lying scattered in the street, it was pretty much all clear. Doubt, however, still began to set in. _'Are we being followed?'_

"Roxas, you comin'?" Ventus was already about five feet ahead of him before he realized Roxas had stopped walking.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm coming." Slowly, but eventually, Roxas turned back and continued to walk beside his brother.

"Hey, Roxas."

"Hm?"

"I can't wrap my brain around this one. We both know that blood attracts them, right?"

Roxas glanced off to the side at Ventus, raising an eyebrow. "Riiiight...?"

"I know vampire bats and leeches and shit feed on blood because of it's their natural food source and they have nutritional gain from it…but, what about people?"

The two finally arrived at their local Target and pried open the dead automatic doors before stepping through and leaving a heavy box that contained computer equipment to keep the doors propped open. Upon stepping inside, they turned on the flashlights they packed with them as the store was pitch-black.

Everything seemed to be that way nowadays.

"What _about_ people?" Roxas looked around the area to make sure it was clear before leading the way to the food aisle.

"People can't sustain themselves on blood; they need _food_, like meat and vegetables, stuff that provides what their bodies need. So...why do they feed mostly on _blood_?" Ventus glanced down and gazed at a long-dried pool of blood next to a rotting corpse, a young woman with short brown hair and broken glasses - a college student they ran into every now and then when the boys were forced to go shopping with their mother. "They shouldn't still be alive, should they?"

"Why do you ask?" Roxas picked up a can of chicken noodle soup and checked to make sure it wasn't contaminated by blood seeping into a hole or anything like that.

"It seems like, lately, they're becoming less and less like _zombies_ and more and more like..._humans_."

The younger twin froze for a brief moment before turning to look back at his brother. "Explain."

"They're just as fragile as we are when it comes to injuries," Ventus began, approaching the other, "and it's starting to look like they know when and where to be. Take Ginny and Bob, for example. The sun was blocked by clouds and instead of wandering all over the damn place like the others, they just happened to be in front of our house. Do you think it's possible they were _waiting_ for us?"

"I thought we've already established that they're just as brain-dead as zombies have always been made out to be. Remember the one that kept banging against the gate these past two nights?"

Ventus scoffed and glared off to the side. "Yeah, damn bitch kept me up all night."

"If she really _was_ capable of intelligent thought," Roxas loaded up five soup cans into his backpack, "then why didn't she just leave as soon as she realized there was an obstacle in her way?"

"Maybe whatever it was drawn to clouded its senses?" Roxas only rolled his eyes and threw his bag over his shoulder.

"Ven, are we gonna ask questions all day or are we gonna load up on shit and get out of here?" He looked around to find another corpse, an old man with his jugular torn clean out. His body had long begun to decay.

"All right. We'll hurry up, then." Ventus nodded and began to help his brother load up on food items. After some time, the two had managed to pack a month's worth of soup, ramen, and various other nonperishable items. On their way out, Roxas noticed the clothing section of the retail store.

"Hey, Ven."

"Yeah?" Ventus stopped with a foot out the door and looked back at Roxas.

"When was the last time we had any fun?" Ventus blinked with shock and confusion.

"Uh…Why do you ask?" He froze when Roxas shot him a mischievous grin. That look alone told him all he needed to know. "Oh, hell no, Roxas. Nuh–uh."

"Aw, c'mon, Ven!"

"Roxas, I said _no_," Ventus huffed, trying to break away from his brother's grasp on his jacket.

"I thought it was your _dream_ to see what kinda shit's in…_the girls' aisle._" Roxas widened his eyes with feigned shock and horror – if they were in some cheesy horror flick, this would be about the time the music would go _Buh, Buh, BUUUUUUUH_. Ventus blushed slightly at the thought of all of the girls he used to know, what they used to look like – fair-skinned beauties, with the sweetest smiles, the brightest eyes…in nothing but their bras and panties, shyly showing off their womanly curves and perky, matured breasts.

Then, all too suddenly, his fantasy warped into a nightmare as he remembered that every, single one of those girls had turned into _them_.

"Eh, no thanks, man." Ventus shook out those thoughts, shuddering a bit as the image flashed once more in his brain.

"You sure? There won't be anybody else to see," Roxas grinned and turned on the ball of his foot, returning to the inside of the store. The other boy gulped silently and watched as his brother left him all alone just outside of the store.

Not even five seconds passed before Roxas heard feet shuffling behind him. "All right. But make it quick, okay? I'm getting creeped out by this place."

"Sure thing, bro. C'mon, let's go." The two boys quickly and cautiously made their way to the clothing aisle of this Target, occasionally looking down at their own wardrobe to compare the quality – their clothes were becoming more and more worn and a lot tighter as they were still growing. Ventus was starting to think that maybe Roxas' insisting on fucking around in the clothing aisle was actually a pretty good call.

That is, until he saw Roxas walk out of a changing room wearing a bright purple tube-top and a jean miniskirt with a little checkered bow in his hair, grinning like the damn fool he once was.

"I feel pretty."

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," Ventus deadpanned, unamused. Smirking slyly, Roxas turned and gave his brother a show. Eyes widening, Ventus slapped his forehead and covered his eyes with his palm. "And are you wearing the underwear, too?"

"So what if I am?"

"You're a fucking idiot."

"I'm an idiot who's having _fun_," Roxas huffed and proceeded to look around the boys' aisle for clothing that better fit his now taller and more muscular body. "Y'know what they do in those movies when they take on too much at once?"

"Blow their own brains out?" Ventus guessed, following suit.

"They go batshit insane from all the stress thrown at them. We've been able to relieve some of it by killing them, but it'd still be nice to _let loose_ every once in a while." The younger Gracy boy picked up and changed into a black tee that fit against his torso in a snug, yet comfortable and free-moving fashion. The tube-top was ditched.

"So that's why you dragged me all the way back in here? To help chill out?" Ventus raised his eyebrows a little, glancing up at his little brother, who was smiling warmly. "Damn, Roxas. That's pretty mellow of you, all things considered with the zombies and shit, heh."

"Hey, when all this shit first went down, _you_ were the one being all mellow and trying to keep us calm and thinking rationally. Let's just say I kinda picked up a few of your quirky traits." Roxas shrugged, still smiling and looking for a couple more shirts and some pants. "Plus, I've kinda, maybe sorta always wanted to try on girls' clothes. Just to see what all the hype was about." Ventus' lips vibrated as he suppressed a chuckle.

"And? How is it?"

"I feel like a whore." Ventus guffawed to the point where he had tears coming out of his eyes, earning a playful glare from the other as he continued. "The sad part is that these clothes were _all_ that were out here. Fuckin' America. Fucking sluts these girls were becoming, oye."

_Exhale_.

Roxas froze for a brief moment. He heard it that time; he _definitely_ heard it. He slowly tilted his head and flashlight up from the rack of jeans he was observing until his bright, cerulean eyes met a pair of dulled, white orbs about twenty feet away.

He had seen those eyes before.

It was a woman – maybe nineteen, twenty at the latest, with dark brown hair, fair skin, a tint of freckles on her face. Her mouth was agape and stained with dried blood, a large wound on the crook of her neck.

She was staring right at him.

_'Don't move,'_ Roxas told himself, and Ventus caught on as well. Neither one moved as they watched her, bracing themselves to either attack or make a run for it if needed. _'She'll just walk right past us. She won't even know we're here. Just like the others.'_

Deep down in his gut, however, he knew this wouldn't be the case. Whenever the boys encountered one of _them_ and they were in a place where it was wisest to not spill blood, they remained perfectly still and _they_ eventually wandered away. _Their_ eyes were blank, staring at nothing as if _their_ heads were full of nothing but air.

Her's, however, were _fixed_ on him.

She took a staggering step closer.

_'Don't move.'_

A jerky, shaky arm raised and her fingers wiggled, reaching blindly out to him. His heart beat began to grow rapid as she only drew closer and closer. Ventus glanced back and forth between his brother and the zombie, panic beginning to set in.

_'Whatever you do, __**don't. Move.**__'_

He gasped as her fingers lightly grabbed at the front of his shirt. He could only stare into her cold, lifeless eyes as she bared her teeth and whispered as her face was brought closer to his. His eyes widened as he listened.

His vision became red with the sound of a _**bang!**_

"Run, damn it! _Run_!" Ventus grabbed Roxas' arm and pulled him along in full sprint as he threw their bags over his shoulders. Roxas watched her over his shoulder as she stumbled backwards in shock, blood protruding out of a fresh wound on her arm. She was dumbfounded enough for the boys to put some distance between them.

And then she let out a horrible, bloodcurdling screech and darted after them, her injured arm dangling and flopping around like dead weight.

"What the _fuck_ is it doing out in the middle of the day!" Ventus glanced back as he led them around the corner and through the store, trying desperately to find the exit. He didn't understand why he couldn't find it, since they were _just __**there**_.

"How the _**fuck**_ should _I_ know!" Roxas yelled back, struggling to keep up with his current attire.

"Let's _go_, _**move it**_!"

"Hey, _you_ try running from a fucking zombie while wearing a god-fucking-damn _skirt_!" The boy felt a shiver creep down his spine as he heard footsteps charging toward them from a distance not too far behind. "And why the hell did you _shoot_ her!"

"Dumb ass, it was going to fucking _eat_ you! What was I supposed to do, sit there and twiddle my- _There_!" Ventus spotted the propped-open door that led to outside of the store, lighting their way. Luckily, it was still a clear day – none of _them_ around; at least, none that they could see. Ventus dragged his brother toward the exit and squeezed him through the crack in the doors, tossing their bags outside with him. When Roxas turned around to help Ventus, he spotted _her_, staring back at him through the glass doors only thirty feet behind his brother.

"C'mon!" Roxas pulled Ventus out by his arms and kicked the box out of the way just as _she_ hurriedly limped over to the now-shut door. She was locked inside.

Screaming and wheezing with frustration, she rammed her body into the glass over and over again, letting blood splatter all over the glass with each hit until it just barely began to crack. The boys just stood there, shaking with fear as she kept her eyes fixated on Roxas even as she pounded her fist and kicked and smashed herself into the doors again and again…until she eventually slumped to the ground, blood pooling around her skull.

"Le-Let's go home…" Ventus lightly tugged at Roxas' sleeve, keeping his handgun in the other hand for the time being. Nodding shakily, Roxas followed Ventus and kept himself close to his brother as they trekked back to the shelter.

"Why did you freeze up like that?" Ventus asked after a few minutes of awkward silence between them. Roxas knew he wasn't being angry or accusatory; Ventus was _scared_.

"She...She was alive," Roxas murmured.

"What do you mean? Roxas, it tried to eat you. People don't eat other peop-"

"She talked to me." Ventus looked at his little brother and saw, for the first time since they left, how truly, deeply _terrified_ he was. "She said something…"

"Shit…Really?" Roxas nodded slowly. "Wh-What did it say?"

Roxas didn't answer. Ventus didn't push any more.

He heard her speak. It was nothing more than a whisper, and a rather choked one at that. But he definitely heard her. She _talked_ to him. Right now, he wanted to get it out of his head. He wanted to forget that she had spoken to him.

But he knew he wouldn't be able to forget that word - not when _she_ said it.

_Mine…_

* * *

~ o ~

* * *

That evening, Roxas confined himself to the roof. He was sitting with his knees hugged to his chest, staring blankly through half-lidded eyes out into their broken world. He'd already changed into some more comfortable attire – a pair of sweatpants and a jacket – but his nerves were still rattled and his body was still tense.

He heard the door open and his brother's voice greeting him with a, "Hey," but he remained still as Ventus joined his side and handed him a plate.

"I made some frozen pizza," Ventus spoke softly. "It's your favorite, sausage and pepperoni. I know we're supposed to be saving them for special occasions…" he paused and glanced away, "but I thought it'd help cheer you up."

Ventus' gaze returned to his brother, and he grew dismayed upon finding Roxas unfazed. The boy didn't seem to acknowledge Ventus' presence; however, Roxas heard everything Ventus said and while he was appreciative of the kind gesture, he just didn't have the appetite for it.

A hand was placed on his shoulder. "Are you – _miiiiiiiine_…"

Roxas jumped and yelped in surprise and fear, looking over at Ventus with wild eyes; Ventus, in turn, jolted a little, startled by his brother's sudden outburst.

"W-What did you just say!"

"I asked if you were all right. You seem really focused on something…" Sighing, Roxas looked away and relaxed a little.

"Just thinkin' about earlier. That girl…I just don't get it."

"Get what?"

"She was here a couple nights ago, and I'm one-hundred percent sure she followed us today, even though it was pretty clear outside. Why would she do that even though the sun should have killed her? And, then…when she talke-"

"What'd it say, anyway?" Ventus raised a curious eyebrow, listening and watching intently.

"She said…'mi-'"

_**BANG!**_

The boys jolted where they sat, startled from a sudden distant, but clear, blast of noise. Roxas looked around in a panic, searching in the darkness surrounding them. "What the fuck was _that_?"

"I dunno." Ventus stood up and hurried to the opening in the roof. "But we're going to find out."

Ventus vanished into the house for a brief moment, and when he returned he was carrying a pair of rifles. He handed one to Roxas before looking around as well. They scanned the area for a good ten minutes. Nothing.

"Well, shit," Ventus sighed, plopping onto his ass next to his brother.

"Bu-But, we did hear it, right? We're not going crazy?" Roxas asked with concern, looking over at the other boy.

"Yeah, we heard it. It sounded like a gunshot." Hearing this got Roxas excited.

"A gunshot? You mean, there're other people out there?" he asked, his voice dripping with hope. Ventus only shook his head.

"I'm not sure anymore. There was only one shot, and now there's nothing. If anything," He slouched a little, "it was probably just one of _them_ accidentally setting off some gun that was lying around."

Roxas' face fell a little. "I-I see…"

"I'll give it another hour, and then I'm headin' back inside. I'm freezing my ass off out here." Ventus sat upright to stretch. Roxas nodded in agreement. If there was even the slightest chance of somebody else out there who was really still alive, he'd wait all night for any other signs. Or, at least, he'd try to.

_'Maybe we're not alone. Maybe we've never been alone. Someone else out there had to have been able to stay alive. They had to.'_

An hour passed. Nothing.

"Well, we're boned." Roxas looked over at his brother as he stood up and stretched. "That's it, man, I'm callin' it a night. You can stay out here if you want, but _I'm_ going to bed."

"Actually," Ventus turned to watch Roxas stand up as well, "I think I'll be headed in, too."

"What? I thought you were the optimist. Just hearing that noise, even though it was probably nothing, made you so determined to find whatever it was. Why are you giving up like this?" Now Ventus was worried. When Roxas was excited about something, he never gave it up this easily.

"I have to face the facts and wake up to reality, Ven. At first, I really did want to wait. But, as we waited longer and longer for anything else, it gradually began to set in."

"What did?" Roxas gave him a sad look and started to walk past him toward the door in the roof.

"We really are the last people alive here." Ventus' eyes widened with surprise. This wasn't like Roxas _at all_. "I mean, heh, we've been at this for two months. If someone really was still out there, we'd have run into them by now, right?"

"Roxas-"

"Anyway, there's nothing left for us here." The younger blonde opened the door. "I really do think we should leave soon. Who knows – maybe we'll run into somebody somewhere else."

"Roxas, it's a big city, and there's a ton of shit lying around. They're probably just having trouble getting around, that's all." Ventus placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Ven, I'm _leaving_." Ventus gasped a little. "And, if it comes to it, I'm leaving without you."

"Are you fucking insane!" Ventus pulled Roxas back toward him and turned him to face him. "The only reason we've been able to survive as long as we have is because we _stayed together_. You go out there by yourself and you'll be dead before noon! _They will __**eat you alive**__!_" Roxas looked up at Ventus and he saw, for the first time since all this started, his brother crying. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, dripping off his chin. He looked so _desperate_.

"Please don't go…You're all I have left. If, If I lost you…" His voice trailed off. "Please-"

And then, Roxas snapped out of it – not because of his brother's pleas; not because of his brother's tears.

_**BANG!**_

Ventus, too, snapped out of it, and the boys looked around for the source of the noise.

"Was that…-"

_**BANG! BANG!**_

"Oh my God, it _is_!" Roxas hurried toward the direction those gunshots were coming from. His eyes scanned the area and off into the distant city, trying to pinpoint exactly what part of the city the other survivor was at.

_**BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!**_

"There's more than one!" Ventus joined Roxas' side, beginning to grow excited just as his brother had been earlier. Roxas grabbed his rifle and brought the scope up to his eye after setting it to the night-vision mode and began to look around. When they realized that the shots weren't coming from the ground level, he directed his search to the taller buildings.

And then-

"Oh my God," Roxas gasped softly.

"What? What is it?" Ventus hurriedly asked.

"There're people. In that building over there," Roxas pointed in the general direction of the building while still watching the other people fire at the zombies. Ventus squinted his eyes to take in its shape and distance from where they were sheltered.

"Holy _shit_! That's the Shinra building!" Roxas only continued to watch as a pair of men in business shirts were taken down by a young woman in a suit. Blood splattered onto the window, and as more came to feast, more gunshots rang out. The blonde directed his focus onto a trio of men in black suits, the ones responsible for those shots. They didn't look like regular employees, _'must be security guards.'_ One was bald and was wearing sunglasses despite how dark it already was; one had a really long ponytail; the last had insanely spiky hair.

All three were kicking ass.

"Roxas, there are other people still alive!" Ventus paced around, unable to contain his excitement and newfound hope. "Oh my God, oh my God, we're not alone. Two _fucking_ months of this shit hole and _we're not alone_!"

"Should we go get them?"

"_No_. No fucking way in Hell. We go out there _now _and we might as well just hang ourselves. It's dark and they're all over the damn place. We'll leave when the sun comes up and whoever wants to come with us can. Why the _hell _would you even _think _about asking something like that?"

"Because…they're losing." Ventus froze in place and looked over at Roxas, his joy fading.

"W-What do you mean, 'losing?'" The other Gracy looked around the other parts of the building. It was a bloodbath no matter where he looked – the undead were gaining an advantage, and there were just too many unarmed people.

"They're not going to make it." Roxas lowered the scope and stare at the building in horror. "That place is too narrow and there's no way to escape." The scope was brought back to his eyes and he looked around for any sign that he was wrong. Every window he was able to peer into had the same scene: people running, people chasing, and eventually people being overrun by _them_.

He spotted a pair of girls running from a small group of undead women who were gaining fast. His eyes widened as he noticed that one of them looked just like-

"Naminé…" At that instant, he remembered that night – the night he went looking for Naminé against his brother's will. She was still home, and she was so happy to see him.

So happy, when she first noticed him standing there and staring at what she had become, she dropped her father's hand and a small twitch of a smirk appeared on her face before she stumbled in his direction. He fell under the spell of her gaze, unable to move, to breathe, to take in what had happened.

He didn't want to believe it.

_'Why didn't I shoot the fucking gun?'_

_**BANG!**_

"Roxas! What the _fuck_ are you doing!" Ventus yelped, startled from the sudden blast of noise coming from his brother's rifle. Roxas was still, shaking just slightly, as he, too, realized what he had done. From his scope, he could see the girls shaking in fear and confusion from what just happened, but when they realized they were able to escape, they fled.

The women were feasting on one of their own he shot.

_'I see…'_

A determined expression on his face, he mentally prepared himself and searched for more survivors in the building – the trio from before had joined ranks with a couple more people wearing the same uniform and they seemed to be doing fine on their own; the girls were able to lock themselves in, what appeared to be, an empty office on the side of the building; some people in the lower levels, however, were locked outside of offices and cornered in the hallways.

_**BANG!**_

"Roxas, if you're doing what I think you're doin-"

"What, we're supposed to just _sit_ here and watch as they get slaughtered? Damn it, Ven, I am _not_ going to stay on the sidelines and watch people die!" Roxas shot another – a cafeteria worker, apparently – just as she was about to attack one of her former co-workers. _'Not again.'_

"I was going to ask if you needed help." Ventus smirked, grabbing his own gun and joining Roxas' side. "We can't go _out_ there and get 'em, but we can help them survive the night at least." He looked at Roxas, who in turn looked back at him. They shared a brief smile that said, "All right. Let's own this bitch."

_**BOOM!**_

The two boys froze, staring at the Shinra building. That sound didn't come from either of them. It didn't come from any of the other survivors. It wasn't a gunshot.

It was an explosion.

"No…" Roxas whispered with fear and horror as they watched the Shinra building light up the darkness, fire breaking through the night as one side of the building crumbled and fell. Smoke billowed into the sky, clouding up the stars and the moon.

There were no more gunshots.

"Oh my God…" Ventus could only watch with shock as the building began to go up in flames. He heard a _thud_ beside him, and looked over to find Roxas curled into himself, shaking. Crying.

"Roxas…" Ventus set down his gun and gently placed a hand upon his brother's shoulder.

"Fuck me! Just _fuck_ me!" he screamed, curling into himself a little more. "It's not fucking fair! We _had_ them! We could've fucking _saved_ them!" He began to pound the roof tiles with his fist. "I can't _do_ this anymore! What the _fuck_ did we do to deserve this!" he broke down into uncontrollable sobs, all his hopes crushed just within moments of being raised.

"H-Hey, hey," Ventus stammered, taking his brother into his arms. "Some people might still be okay! It was just a small part that blew up, and most of the people were on the other side!" He tried his best to keep his voice stable, to make their situation seem not as bad as he knew it really was.

"There are still people, Roxas. They're still alive. And-And, in the morning, we'll go get them. Okay?"

"God hates us."

"God does _not_ hate us."

"He did this." Roxas began to get up, shaking a little as denial set in. "He did this to us. He did _all_ of this to us."

"Roxas, listen to yourse-"

"He fucking ruined the world and left us alone to _rot_ in it."

"Roxa-"

"That," He pointed at the building set ablaze. "_That_ was just to break us. As if taking our lives, our _parents_, _EVERYONE WE FUCKING KNEW AND LOVED WASN'T__** GOOD**__ ENOUGH!_" A hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Roxas." He looked over to see his brother looking at him with worry. "That's enough." Ventus wiped away some of his brother's tears and looked him in the eye as he spoke calmly.

"First thing in the morning, we're packing up, and we're going out there." Roxas nodded slowly in understanding. "If we find somebody, we'll take them back here and we won't be alone. Not anymore. But," he paused, "if nobody's there…then we'll take what we can and leave the city. At that point, there won't be any reason to continue living here. Does that sound fair?" Roxas' eyes widened slightly, surprised that his brother actually agreed with his plan. He nodded again, a bit calmer now.

"Good."

**[ f e a r ]**

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Oh Jesus, I finally got around to this. College is being such a bitch and it's totally stifling my creativity.

…Haha. No, seriously, though. It bites. But! I'm glad I was able to finish this chapter because this, my beloved readers…_this_ is where it really starts. You can consider every chapter up until now to be just filler stuff to pave the way for the next chapter. Shit's about to go down, and I hope you're all ready for it.

And yes. That one zombie talked. Things are only going to get worse for the twins from here on out. Juuuust saying.

Thanks to JustSayNoToPants for being the lovely beta that she is! She works so hard to find time to read and edit this and she's just so amazing and I love her. ; u ;

Read and review, please? They are, literally, the only reason why I'm still writing. ; A ;


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